Most every day there is a provocative news report suggesting that some “miracle drug” may help treat Veterans with PtSD and TBI. If it is not a new drug, cannabis or ecstacy are often cited as “new” drugs that can help Veterans cope with the debilitating symptoms of PTSD.

While many Veterans with brain injury and their caregivers hope that prescription medicine relief is on the way, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) has a very poor track record in providing Veterans with the care that they deserve. More to the point, prominent spokespeople for the VA – like Dr. David Cifu – give misleading information when they claim that the VA provides the best available treatment programs for PTSD and TBI. This is simply not the case.

In fact, there are hundreds of stories documenting the frustration of Veterans with the staff of the VA. The suicide of Veteran Eric Bivins as told by his wife is just one of many horrific stories of how doctors at the VA callously treat Veterans.

When all else fails (as it normally does), the VA prescribed drugs – in many cases, opioids. Mind-altering drugs was to “go-to” choice for overworked VA medical personnel who still don’t know how to deal with, let alone treat brain injury.

While we all remain hopeful that drug relief is just around the corner, it seems likely that the new “miracle” drug will only deal with the symptoms of behavioral changes caused by PTSD and TBI. Veterans consulted by SFTT seek a permanent or semi-permanent solution that avoids invasive drugs. Found below are questions Veterans and their caregivers should consider when thinking about using “alternative” drugs.

What Veterans Should Know About “Alternative” Drugs

There is much “buzz” in social media channels and even authoritative medical websites on important new breakthroughs on “drugs” to help Veterans with with PTSD and TBI. Given the wide disparity in treating brain injury, it seems unlikely that marijuana, MDMA or others in clinical trial will provide a long term solution.

There is a vast difference between providing therapy that permits Veterans with PTSD and TBI to recover their lives than supplying prescription drugs which treats the symptoms. As the public has painfully learned from the opioid epidemic, prescription drugs that treat only the symptoms can have detrimental side-effects.

VA’s Research on Alternative Drugs

The VA continues to help fund initiatives to identify less addictive drugs that help Veterans cope with chronic pain, depression and anxiety. Clinical trials take several years to complete and there is a lengthy regulatory and review process to obtain FDA approval.

SFTT sincerely hopes that researchers and the medical profession will hopefully create a variety of new – and less addictive – drugs to treat Veterans with PTSD and TBI. Nevertheless, members of the medical profession must clearly distinguish between drugs that treat “symptoms” and those that may offer long term remission from brain injury. For reasons that are not entirely obvious, the VA does not make that distinction public. Sadly, the VA’s track record is not good in dispensing prescription drugs to Veterans with brain injury.

In a carefully crafted message, “The Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week that it would begin offering hyperbaric oxygen therapy (“HBOT”) to some veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, despite a lack of evidence that it works or being approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for PTSD.”

The news was released by “Stars and Stripes” on November 30 in an article titled “VA to offer unproven hyperbaric oxygen therapy to vets with PTSD.”

The article is hardly a ringing endorsement of HBOT. More to the point, Secretary Shulkin reportedly said on Wednesday that “the VA must ‘explore every avenue’ and ‘be open to new ideas.’”

Well, HBOT may be “new” to the VA, but this therapy has been around for decades and is used successfully around the world to treat patients with brain trauma. The VA stigma exists because Dr. David Cifu and many other bureaucrats within the VA continue to push a stale agenda of ineffective and often dangerous therapies that don’t work.

In fact, this is one of the major reasons that Veterans with PTSD and TBI have sought treatment outside the VA. Talking heads at the VA would like Veterans and the public to believe that HBOT is “snake oil,” but there is a long and detailed clinical trail of evidence that suggests otherwise.

Arguing that HBOT is “not FDA or DoD approved” rings a bit hollow after the President’s Report on Fighting Drug Addiction and Opioid Abuse states that “the modern opioid crisis originated within the healthcare system.”

Let’s face it: What do you do when evidence-based medicine is proved wrong? Well, in this case, the Federal government will provide “the healthcare system” with billions of taxpayer dollars to fix the mess they largely created. Sounds absurd, but you don’t even have to read the small print.

While SFTT is thrilled that Dr. Shulkin has decided to part ways with the orthodoxy of failed VA therapies to treat Veterans with PTSD, it will be years before all Veterans will receive the lifesaving benefits of HBOT. Furthermore, it is likely that the VA and DoD will again manipulate test protocols to produce treatment outcomes that produce inconclusive results.

Will HBOT work in all cases? Of course not, but life-changing outcomes are far more likely with HBOT than the only two failed programs currently offered by the VA:

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (“PE”) and,

Cognitive Processing Therapy (“CPT”)

In any event, we hope that doctors within the VA system will not be so dismissive of HBOT that it leads to another Veteran suicide like Eric Bivins. For those who want a first-hand look into the travesty of the VA system, follow this painful trail of systemic abuse by Eric’s widowed spouse, Kimi.

Our brave Veterans deserve more and SFTT would like to thank Secretary Shulkin for taking this important first step.

This Saturday (November 11, 2017), Fox TV will air a broadcast on how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (“HBOT”) is helping hundreds – if not thousands – of Veterans with PTSD and TBI.

This special program will be aired on Veterans’ Day. The video below was prepared by The National Hyperbaric Association to demonstrate that “real” therapy is available to the tens of thousands of brave warriors suffering from PTSD and TBI.

HBOT is a proven therapy widely used around the world for patients suffering from brain trauma. Sadly, the folks at the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) are still peddling the same stale “evidence-based” therapy programs to Veterans that do not work:

“The VA has very little evidence to show that PE and CPT therapy programs have done much to reduce the incidence of PTSD symptoms among Veterans against the “gold-standard” standardized PCL-M tests currently used by the VA. The chart below illustrates the point (50 is considered base level):

Aside from being very expensive to administer, the ‘evidence based medicine’ supporting the effectiveness of PE and CPT programs currently administered by the VA is SADLY LACKING.”

What Does the VA Have Against HBOT?

It is difficult to understand the VA’s hardline against HBOT, particularly when the overwhelming statistical “evidence” clearly demonstrates that the VA’s own therapy programs are severely flawed. Furthermore, this is the same institution that hooked Veterans on opioids (and indirectly fueled a national epidemic) based on flawed clinical trials.

Dr. David Cifu, the Dr. Orange of PTSD at the VA?

How many more times do we have to listen to Dr. David Cifu testify before Congress that he (read “the VA”) knows best when treating Veterans with PTSD? It is ironic to note that in David Cifu’s quest to discredit hyperbaric oxygen therapy, his employer (Vincent Viola – once tapped to be Secretary of the Army) is alleged to treat his racehorses with HBOT.

One might ask why thoroughbreds get the benefit HBOT while Veterans are denied HBOT at the VA? I don’t know the answer, but I suspect that the “serious” money lies in new clinical trials and “breakthrough” drugs peddled by Big Pharma.

Or is it the VA’s special take on insanity?: Providing Veterans with the same battery of lame therapy programs and psychotic drugs, but hoping for a more positive outcome.”

It is sad to see our Veterans being sold down the river by less-than-candid mouthpieces of a rudderless VA, but the truth is as clear as the Presidential report on Fighting Drug Addiction and Opioid Abuse. Look no further than the damning statement: “the modern opioid crisis originated within the healthcare system.”

If you think that common sense and a desire to genuinely help our Veterans with PTSD and TBI will manifest itself soon – you are likely to be disappointed.

As they say at the Beltway Racetrack, “the fix is in!”

If you genuinely want to help our brave Veterans, write your Congressmen (and women) and Senators and State and Local representatives. Also, do take the time to learn the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen and give generously to SFTT and the National Hyperbaric Association to support our brave Veterans.

Veterans Day is more than waving the flag. Don’t let the festering sore at the VA continue to kill hope among our Veterans and their loved ones.

A research group from the Netherlands collected blood samples Dutch soldiers before, as well as 6 months after deployment.

Author of the study, Dr. Laurence de Nijs (Maastricht University), states the following:

“We discovered that these small molecules, called miRNAs, are present in different amount in the blood of persons suffering from PTSD compared to trauma-exposed and control subjects without PTSD.

“We identified over 900 different types of these small molecules. 40 of them were regulated differently in people who developed PTSD, whereas there were differences in 27 of the miRNAs in trauma-exposed individuals who did not develop PTSD.

“Interestingly, previous studies have found circulating miRNA levels to be not only correlated with different types of cancer, but also with certain psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorders. These preliminary results of our pilot study suggest that miRNAs might indeed be candidates as predictive blood markers (biomarker) to distinguish between persons at high and low risk of developing PTSD. However, several steps need to be performed before such results can really have an impact on the larger field and in clinical practice. In addition to working towards biomarkers, the results may also provide novel information about the biological mechanisms underlying the development of PTSD”.

While more studies are required to confirm the results of this study, it does suggest that blood-testing could help identify risk factors for susceptibility to PTSD for troops scheduled for deployment.

It is difficult to generalize from such a limited test sample but clearly, evidence based markers seem to be a far better way to test the incidence of PTSD and brain trauma than the simplistic PTSD screening questionnaires currently employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).

There continues to be much promising research into preventing and curing PTSD and TBI, but sadly the VA continues to insist on failed therapy programs while sponsoring research studies than focus on helping Veterans cope with the symptoms of brain trauma rather that provide meaningful solutions. The cannabis and ecstasy studies suggest that the VA feels far more comfortable dispensing prescription drugs rather than provide Veterans with a meaningful path to full recovery.

While thousands of Veterans continue to suffer from combat-related brain trauma, the VA has done precious little to help these Veterans and their families cope with this debilitating problem. While the VA insists that they are doing everything possible to help Veterans with PTSD and TBI, the story of Eric Bivins and countless other brave warriors paints a far different picture of what Veterans can really expect at the VA.

As we reported earlier, Veteran Eric Bivins committed suicide after being unable to find the support and care he needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).

Found below are a moving – AND MOST SAD – series of videos by Kimi Bivins, Eric’s spouse which describes her experiences with the VA in attempting to find the proper care for her husband.

Kimi’s experiences with the VA are not dissimilar from my own and countless of others who have sought care from the VA. I agree with Kimi that it is a “national disgrace,” yet the VA continues to remain largely unaccountable for their callousness and disdain in treating our brave warriors.

I would encourage readers to watch these powerful videos to understand the frustration and agony of a loved-one in dealing with the VA.

Kimi’s YouTube videos are presented in a more or less chronological order, with limited commentary by me other than to clarify certain expressions.

Published on March 23, 2016. Kimi’s Initial PRIVATE Appeal for Help.

Published on March 10, 2016. Kimi’s Frustration on Getting VA Paperwork

Published on March 18, 2016. Eric in a VA Facility

Published on March 23, 2016. Eric is Coping, but Life is Still Very Difficult

Published on April 13, 2016. Eric at Independent Treatment Facility.

Published on May 15, 2016. Eric is Better, But Seeks Therapy Outside the VA

Published July 11, 2017. After Eric’s Suicide

While many will be shocked by these series of videos, it is far too commonplace within the VA.

Before Eric’s suicide he had been accepted into a program to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT. I credit HBOT with saving my life and enabling me to begin the long road to recover my life.

It is sad that some uninformed doctor at the VA would shatter Eric’s dream of life-changing therapy by parroting the VA’s institutional bias against HBOT.

Dr. David Cifu and his cronies at the VA and the DoD have done their upmost to discredit HBOT and other alternative therapies to support the failed VA programs of Cognitive Process Therapy (“CPT”) and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (“PE”).

Failed VA therapy programs to treat PTSD have been documented numerous times by credible independent studies. And yet, VA spokespeople still parrot the same stale party line. Veterans with PTSD and TBI are not deceived and have abandoned the VA in droves.

It sickens me to watch these tragic videos of Kimi documenting her fruitless attempt to navigate the uncaring bureaucracy of the VA. In my estimation, Kimi’s videos should be mandatory training for all employees at the VA.

While the VA provides much needed comfort to thousands of Veterans, those Veterans with PTSD and TBI need to look elsewhere for REAL therapy.

As suggested in last week’s article by Maj. Ben Richards, the care provided by the VA is far different than the “happy talk” its administrators disseminate to a gullible public and Congress. The disturbing suicide of Veteran Eric Bivins can clearly be laid at the doors of the VA, but does anyone in authority really care?

Will the desperate pleas Eric’s spouse Kimi resonate in the corridors of power in DC? Probably not. And yet, Kimi’s description of the troubling treatment provided by the VA is far more accurate than the self-serving assurances that VA “change agents” dispense to the press.

Veterans are giving up hope daily and seeking treatment outside the VA. If Congress truly wanted to know the extent of the problems in the VA, they would surely spend far more time seeking out the views of Veterans than blindly accept the assurances of its administrators. Will this occur? Not likely – and even if it were to occur, not much is likely to change.

The VA is like an old automobile that is falling apart. Sure, we can try fixing it with the same failed strategies that have been used in the past OR how about trying a different approach? Scrap the dysfunctional VA and build a responsive institution that truly attends to the needs of most Veterans?

How Can the VA be Fixed?

With an annual budget of over $180 billion and nearly 350,000 employees, things can easily get off-track. More to the point, impassioned administrator can run about putting their fingers in the holes of a leaking dyke, but another leak will surface almost immediately.

As I stated previously,

NO AMOUNT OF MONEY or CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP or ENACTMENT OF NEW LEGISLATION will bring aboutA MORE RESPONSIVE VA.

The VA has become a bureaucracy that answers only to itself and is not responsive to the needs of Veterans. Frankly, the VA has lost its way and very little will change unless the VA is broken down into far smaller manageable components.

While smaller components of the VA will invariably fail, A SMALLER AND LESS CENTRALIZED VA WON’T COMPROMISE THE FULL MISSION.

The public seems relieved that Veterans now have a choice of service providers because the Choice Program has been extended by Congress, but for many thousands of Veterans like Eric Bivins and his family, there really is NO CHOICE!

Where the VA is Today

Personally, I believe that Dr. Shulkin has done a remarkable job in addressing some of the more urgent problems at the VA. While one can argue whether he has done enough, the task he has been given is like being assigned to captain the Titanic after it has hit the iceberg.

The speed with which the VA will sink further into disrepute may be slowed, but SINK it will.

How many more times to we have to fire ineffective VA employees when the Labor Union intercedes to protect employee “rights”?

How many more infection risks do Veterans need to overcome at VA facilities?

These are just the latest “issues” that Dr. Shulkin and his staff need to deal with. Despite evidence of much needed progress to overhaul the VA, these problems are likely to persist.

In fact, every local incidence of inefficiency or incompetence becomes magnified into a matter of national concern and raises further doubts about the VA’s ability to reform itself from within. Frankly, there are far too many competing mandates for it to do so.

Sadly, our Veterans and their loved ones will continue to suffer until we stop posturing and enact real reform.

As a military veteran with PTSD and TBI, I encounter many brave warriors who have had difficulties getting proper treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).

All of these conversations have been disturbing and caused me to relive the terrible ordeals I faced when dealing with the VA. Nothing quite compared to the disturbing letter I received from Debbie Lee, the founder of America’s Mighty Warriors (“AMW”).

Veteran Eric Bivins serving his country.

In her open letter (summarized and slightly edited below), Debbie describes the heart-wrenching conversation she had with Kimi Bivins, whose husband Eric (a Marine Veteran), had committed suicide after the callous indifference shown by doctors at the VA to his PTSD and TBI.

Several weeks ago Veteran Eric Bivins reached out to us via email for help with his PTS (Post Traumatic Stress) and getting into Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treatments. We replied to his email and told him we would be glad to help. He was scheduled to start Aug 2nd at Rocky My Hyperbaric.

I didn’t hear anything back until Wednesday when his wife called. She informed me that her husband had committed suicide. She was calling to try and get HBOT for her husbands friends he had served with. We are working to connect with them to provide HBOT to provide healing and hope.

Over the last 4 years our foundation, America’s Mighty Warriors (“AMW”) has been an advocate to make this standard of care at the VA and with Tricare. We have paid for over 30 Veterans to receive this 2 month treatment. Every Veteran we sponsored who received treatment has received improvement with their symptoms for PTSD/TBI .

We spoke for about and hour and she shared that her husband was super excited about getting the treatment and had hope for his future. He had numerous problems with the VA in Tennessee.

Long story short, his last visit at the VA was with the Chief of Staff, Dr. John Nadeau to at that facility. When Eric shared his excitement for getting the HBOT treatment Dr Nadeau told him several times that HBOT was a waste and that people were just trying to scam him for his money.

His wife said he left a defeated man and had his hope crushed by that doctor. We both agree that her husband’s blood is on that doctor’s hands. They had numerous botched surgeries and doctors who disrespected and misdiagnosed or wouldn’t diagnose his medical problems.

Eric had been sober for about 18 months and that next day started drinking and ended up taking his life after several days of abusing alcohol and prescription drugs.

I am working with her to expose this atrocity. She has two daughters who are 12 and 10. I spent about an hour on the phone with her tonight just listening and providing comfort. While we were talking I asked when social security would kick in for her kids and she said hopefully August. I asked about insurance and she said none. I asked how she was doing financially, and she said they are struggling. Then she shared that her roof caved in a few days ago and that they had their roof replaced two years ago and it wasn’t done correctly and they insurance will only cover $2000 in “rot” damage, not the replacement costs.

AMW did a Random Act of Kindness for Kami and her children to help during this difficult time and sent a check for $5000.00. This program was started in response to my sons amazing last letter home. He mentions that Random Acts of Kindness could change our world and I know when I shared with Kami what our board had approved her life was changed, and she was deeply moved.

Please help us to expose another VA that is responsible for killing a Veteran and the help and healing that HBOT is providing for our Veterans struggling with TBI and PTSD.

I have worked with Veterans who have shown me a gallon size baggie of prescription drugs that they were prescribed to take and 2/3rd’s of them say “may cause suicidal tendencies” and we wonder why our suicide rate is so high. Then they find alternative therapies that are helping and have their hope ripped from them by doctors who are not familiar with HBOT and the success our Vets have seen who have received this. How many more lost lives are these Doctors responsible for?

It is hard to fathom the reasons why any qualified VA doctor would rob a patient a moment of hope, particularly when the VA has been demonstrably incompetent in providing an alternative.

Kimi’s story, as reported by Debbie of AMW, serves as a daily reminder that we all need to take action to expose the lies, hypocrisy and arrogance of the VA. For many Veterans, the VA is a failed institution that treats our brave heroes with disdain.

How can let this young woman’s desperate plea go unheeded?

It is hard for me to watch this video, but Kimi’s experience is not unique. How many more Veterans need to suffer such indignity?

For those wishing to know more about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy or HBOT, please CLICK HERE: